Sunday, November 19, 2017

Strawberry Preserve

I love strawberry preserve, especially those made with whole strawberries. I like it slightly runny, I've always wanted to make strawberry preserve with fresh strawberry in Cameron Highlands as strawberries that have been brought down to lowland tends to go off too quickly, and you end up throwing away most of them. 

So when we were in Cameron Highlands last weekend, With freshly plucked strawberries from the night market that's meters away from our place, and some sugar plus lemon juice, we immediately made this scrumptious strawberry preserves with loads of whole strawberries.

Strawberry Preserve


1kg strawberries, hulled 
3 cups of sugar
juice of 1 lemon

Directions :
Place two saucers in the freezer.

In a wide bowl, crush half of the strawberries. In a heavy bottomed pan, mix together the crushed and whole strawberries, sugar, and lemon juice.

Stir over low heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, and bring the mixture to a full rolling boil.

Boil, stirring often, for about 15 minutes, until the mixture looks thick, shiny and darker.

To test if the preserve is ready, put a teaspoonful of the preserve liquid on one of the chilled plates, allow it to cool in the freezer for 3 minutes, then push the mixture with your little finger. If a crinkly skin has formed on the jam and there is no liquid left, then the preserve is set. Otherwise continue to cook for another 5 minutes and repeat the set test until it's ready.

When the preserves is done, skim excess foam from the surface,

If the jam is going to be eaten right away, just place in a dry, clean, oil-free container and refrigerate, otherwise process using your usual canning method.

p/s: Yup, I lugged my cast irons up to Cameron Highlands!